THE NATIONALITY OF ANTI-CHRIST

Written 1997; additions made some years later, and some textual refining from time to time.

It might be true to say that no one will know the anti-Christ's identity with complete certainty until he sets up the "abomination of desolation." Foreign soldiers will, on a large scale, invade Jerusalem's Temple site with profanities, and from there lay waste (i.e. desolate) the city. This must involve much more than a rock-pelting by Palestinian boys, or a string of suicide bombings, or anything merely sacrilegious. It must be a major military invasion (see Luke 21) occurring at a time when a commercial skincode system, incorporating a 666, is feasible in the bulk of the "civilized" world.

Misleading ideas could be avoided if we could first of all know, from Scripture, which nation the anti-Christ will be a citizen of. This knowledge is a key starting point for identifying the man. In Biblical terms, the anti-Christ is the "Gog of Magog" of Ezekiel 38 and 39. Yes, the evidence is overwhelming, and I will share it with you in this chapter.

It is apparent today, in accordance with the sort of globalization taking shape, that even Gog can become an interim leader of Europe in the near future. As unlikely a scenario as it may seem to you at this time (1997), even as it seemed totally impossible to me in the early 1990s, I have since been claiming just that -- Gog will one day lead Europe -- simply because the Bible leads me to this conclusion. Does it seem a contradiction to portray the anti-Christ as a European ruler and a Russian Gog all at once? No more so than the apparent contradiction found in Daniel where the anti-Christ is portrayed both as a European leader and a Middle-Eastern war hog. The reality must be that the anti-Christ is not going to be the leader or figurehead of a revived Roman empire until he successfully invades the Middle East as a Russian.

In the 1980s, I had two main reasons for rejecting the Gog-anti-Christ equation. For one, I didn't see how the Ezekiel text placed Gog's destruction at Armageddon, after the 70th Week, a timing which is absolutely necessary if he were the anti-Christ. Or perhaps closer to the truth, I had seen Gog's destruction at Armageddon, but only as out of the corner of my eye, yet I simply refused to entertain it even when at times it jiggled out to my awareness. For, like so many other prophecy students, and no doubt due to the overwhelming writings in this direction, I was convinced that Gog could not be the anti-Christ.

Popular writers such as Grant Jeffrey assume that Gog must first be destroyed for the very purpose of opening the way for the anti-Christ to plow unopposed through Israel. But what happens to this view if Ezekiel 38-39 proves that Gog is destroyed at Armageddon? Rather than viewing Gog and the anti-Christ as two military leaders acting against Israel separately, might we not recognize them as being one and the same person? But if true, how can we explain the inability of many prophecy educators to see things this way?

When Revelation 19 depicts Jesus' "white-horse" appearance to defeat the anti-Christ's forces, there is an invitation from God to the birds. Read this invitation below, and then compare it to the wording of Ezekiel below that:

...he [an angel] cried out in a great voice, saying to all the birds, 'Come and assemble yourselves to the great supper of God, in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of generals and the flesh of strong men and the flesh of horses and those who sit upon them...'"(Revelation 19:17,18).

"Say to the bird of every wing, and to every beast of the field, 'Gather yourselves and come; collect yourselves from all around to my sacrifice which I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth...And you shall be satiated at my table, with horses and chariots, and mighty men, all the men of war'" (Ezekiel 39:17-20).

If the language of Revelation was not written to confuse us, the anti-Christ is one and the same, Gog's hordes. Yes, for when the language of Revelation so clearly reflects Old-Testament language, it is expounding on the Old Testament. Some readers may see the above comparison as less than overwhelming evidence; it is indeed possible for there to be two different invitations to the birds, to two different feasts upon the flesh of soldiers representing two different armies. Yet, the possibility remains, and must therefore be entertained, that the similarities in the two texts stand as an Intended indicator -- merely one of several others -- that identifies Gog as the anti-Christ.

Consider the following statement concerning Israel's restoration, found only two verses after Ezekiel's invitation to the birds:

"So shall the house of Israel know that I am the LORD their God, from that day and onward"(Ezekiel 39:22).

It is made clear that the period, "that day and onward," is referring to an endless period beginning at the day of Gog's destruction. But if we place that day in the first half of the Week, then we must view Israel as knowing the LORD their God forever beginning then...something altogether strange in all of the Bible. To the contrary, prophecy tells that God will hide Himself from Israel in the second half of the Week, so that "that day and onward" cannot begin in the first half, but is much better viewed as a post-Armageddon blessing. All of prophecy speaking to Israel's endless blessings commences at Armageddon.

So, as "that day and onward" means Armageddon and onwards, Gog must be destroyed at Armageddon...wherefore it becomes irresistible to equate him with the anti-Christ. Don't misunderstand me, Gog will enter Israel in the first half of the Week, as per the prophecies regarding the anti-Christ, and then go on to trample Jerusalem for 42 months, but his destruction is not until Armageddon, the time for Israel's restoration. There is not one scripture showing Israel's restoration at any time prior to the time for destroying the nations at Armageddon.

Similarly, in Ezekiel 38:16 we read that, as a result of Gog's destruction, the nations will "know" God. In verse 23, the LORD repeats this claim: "I will be known in the eyes of many nations." Apparently, those teachers who insist that Gog is destroyed early in the Week, or even prior to the Week, must be strangely convinced that the nations will know the LORD at those times. But how can this be when Revelation makes it plain that the nations will reject Him plague-after-plague until the very last one: Armageddon? How can the nations know God when they are all receiving the mark of the beast? And even at the very tail end of the Week they will send one another gifts to celebrate the deaths of God's Two Witnesses.

Ezekiel 39:21 conflicts with these teachers all the more by saying that, as a result of Gog's destruction, "I will put my glory among the nations," an event that cannot happen during the Week, nor even during Armageddon, but only after Armageddon has Punished the nations. I hate to be redundant here, but the LORD becomes much more persuasive along these lines:

"Now [as a result of Gog's destruction] I will remove the captivity of Jacob, and will have mercy on all the house of Israel..." (Ezekiel 39:25)

"I will not any more hide My face from them..." (Ezekiel 39:29)

Do you see that this is post-trib' and post-Armageddon talk? How could the LORD have placed Gog's defeat at Armageddon any more convincingly? It is made plain that, via Gog's attack on Israel, the LORD will hide his face from Israel, but via Gog's destruction, the LORD would never again hide his face from Israel. The period of hiding His face will be the 42 months of Israel's tribulation...wherefore Gog's destruction cannot be prior to the 42 months. Plain and simple, and yes forgive the redundancy.

Some writers are refusing to acknowledge that Gog's invasion is the LORD's personal punishment upon Israel, especially those writers who (wrongly) equate the Gog war of Revelation 20 with the Gog war here in Ezekiel. The reality is that the LORD brings Gog along with "hooks" to Israel's mountains (38:4), wherefore the invasion must be His wrath upon Israel, especially as He simultaneously turns His face from Israel. In Revelation 20, it is not God who brings Gog against Israel, and Gog is not shown inside Israel's borders...which is explained in Ezekiel itself as per God promising to bless/protect Israel beginning at Armageddon and onward.

EZEKIEL'S POST-TRIB LANGUAGE

When describing Gog's destruction, Ezekiel 38 is threaded with terms and phrases bringing Armageddon to mind. For example, such phrases as "the mountains shall be thrown down," or "all men on the face of the earth shall quake at My face," are found in relation to Gog's destruction. Similar post-tribulational language is found abundantly throughout the Old Testament (a dozen verses are included nearer to the end of this chapter for those who are not familiar with them). Take note of the following highlights from the Ezekiel text and compare them to the phrases/terms of other Old-Testament books which speak unquestioningly of Armageddon...also called the "Day of the LORD":

"And it shall be in that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel, declares the Lord YHWH, my fury shall come up in my face. And in My jealousy the fire of My wrathwhich I spoke about. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel. And the fish of the sea and the birds of the air shall shake at My face and the beasts of the field and all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places [cliffs] shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I shall call for a sword against him on all my mountains...And I will judge him with a plague and with blood, and an overflowing shower, and hailstones. I will rain fire and brimstone on him, and on his bands, and on the many peoples who are with him...and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am YHWH." (Ezekiel 38:18-22).

Consider how impregnated this passage is with terminology from Isaiah, David, and elsewhere, some of it written previous to Ezekiel, as if God would not have us make any mistake about which Day He is speaking of. The phrase, "the fire of my wrath which I spoke about" is very strongly indicating the fiery wrath of the Final Day = Armageddon. The following Ezekiel offering is a similar declaration:

"BEHOLD! IT IS COMING AND IT SHALL BE DONE, DECLARES THE LORD YHWH. THIS IS THE DAY OF WHICH I HAVE SPOKEN (39:8).

What future day had the Lord previously spoken of which had such immense significance as to warrant His use of, "This is THE DAY..."? Surely, He is referring to "the Day of the LORD," mentioned often as the world's destruction as a whole.

I hope that you've realized the error of pre-tribulationism wherein the Day of the LORD is wrongly viewed as the entire 70th Week. That Week cannot be the Day of the LORD because the LORD himself gives this period to the throne of Satan. The only reason that pre-tribulationists view the entire Week as this Day is due to the Bible's admission that Jesus returns and raptures His saints on the "day of the Lord."

GOG IS ALSO "ASSYRIA"

It amazes me that for years and years I glazed over the meaning of the following quote:

"Are you not the one of whom I have spoken in former days by the hand of my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days and years to bring you against [Israel]" (38:17)?

If you search the prophetic writings prior to Ezekiel, you will not find the word "Gog" mentioned. Therefore, we must look for him (or his army) in alternative terms. We are looking for someone to attack Israel in the end-times who is so immense that God would refer to him as, "the one." There is no such end-time army/king which in prophecy previous to Ezekiel has such overwhelming priority in Israel like the army/man of the anti-Christ.

There are indeed several references to an army, or to a conglomeration of armies, to be empowered by God for an end-time invasion against Israel, only to be destroyed by Him at Armageddon. At times in Isaiah, this end-time army is equipped under the authority of the "king of Assyria." Elsewhere in Isaiah (13-14), the anti-Christ is revealed as the "king of Babylon." However, it says of this king of Babylon: ...to break Assyria in My land, and trample him on My mountains" (Isaiah 14:25).

It is this little clue that permits us to find the anti-Christ identified as "Assyria" in four other chapters of Isaiah (10, 19, 30 and 31), in Micah 5:5-6, and Nahum 3:18. Historians, including many Christians, don't realize that Isaiah 10 is referring to a second Assyrian assualt on Jerusalem, still to our future. This failure is quite amazing because Isaiah elsewhere depicts an end-time Assyria (see the coming chapter(s) for clarification).

Concerning ancient Assyria in its invasion of Jerusalem, Isaiah said: "So YHWH says this of the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow here...I will defend over this city to save it" (37:33,35). But because the Assyria in Isaiah 10 invades Jerusalem (i.e. "Mount Zion") successfully (v 6), as God's wrath poured out on the Jews yet, the prophecy cannot concern the ancient Assyria that God protected Jerusalem from. As of today, there has not yet been a successful invasion of Jerusalem by an Assyrian, wherefore Isaiah 10 has yet to be fulfilled.

Note that the Isaiah-14 statement referring to end-time Assyria matches Gog's destruction on Israel's mountains: "to break Assyria in My Land, and trample him on My mountains" (Isaiah 14:25). We find in the very same verse that the destruction of Assyria pertains to Armageddon: "This is the purpose that is purposed on all the earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out on all the nations" (Isa. 14:25).

Here's the anger of God against Israel: "Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger! And My fury is the staff in their hand. I will send them against an ungodly nation [Israel], and against the people of My wrath. I will command him TO PLUNDER A PLUNDER, AND TO SPOIL A SPOIL" (Isaiah 10:5-6).

And look at what Gog comes to Israel to do according to Ezekiel: TO PLUNDER A PLUNDER, AND TO SPOIL A SPOIL" (38:12). Same Hebrew words in both texts. The question is: why are both Gog and end-time Assyria to plunder Israel as per the LORD'S will, and both to be destroyed at Armageddon on the mountains of Israel? One answer is: they are one and the same. Some prophecy educators are willing to view the Assyrian of Isaiah as the anti-Christ, but not as Gog, even though the location of ancient Assyria is in the face of modern Russia and ancient Magog.

In Isaiah 19:4, before the chapter ends with a peaceful solution between end-time Assyria and Egypt, the anti-Christ is called "a fierce king" in relation to a successful invasion of Egypt, an event also shown in Daniel 11:25-28 at the hand of the "king of the north." In a profound depiction of the Lord's second coming in Psalm 18, you will also find an oppressor of what appears to be Christ's Body/Elect, quoted as the "strong enemy" and "the violent one." In light of multiple references to the anti-Christ by one phrase or another, prior to the Ezekiel-38 prophecy, God should not be misunderstood when He asks of Gog: "Are you not the one of whom I have spoken in former days..."

WHEN ARE THE WEAPONS BURNED?

Adding to my difficulties at one time, there was the issue of Gog's weapons. The seven years in which Israel burns them for fuel seem, at first glance, to be a span of time occurring simultaneous with the 70th Week. By the very coincidence that both are seven-year time frames, we can be (mis)led to assume this. Scholars don't tend to lean toward the idea that Gog is destroyed at the end of the Week because that scenario juts the period of burning the weapons seven years into the Millennium.

However, it is not wise to chart Gog's destruction based on the timing of the destruction of his weapons when there is not a single indicator revealing that timing...except by first discovering the timing of Gog's destruction. Once the timing of his destruction is pinned down, we can know with 100 percent certainty that the burning of the weapons must occur for seven years thereafter.

I am now convinced that the weapons are burned for the first seven years of the Millennium. This appears unthinkable at first because the Millennium is supposed to be a new age of substantial blessing to Israel, and is she burning weapons for her fuel?? But the picture is not odd when one considers the utter destruction to Israel's forests, some destroyed 1) by the droughts and military invasions that God will bring in the 42 months, 2) by the final "locust" armies of Joel to strip the land clean of vegetation, 3) by the military fire of Armageddon, and possibly, 4) by the volcanic activity and/or melting of some land masses during the earth-shaking 7th Bowl.

The Lord could snap His fingers and create a paradise instantly after Armageddon, but I think it's clear from several Old-Testament prophecies (esp. Isaiah) that Israel will have to rebuild mainly from scratch using human energy and much natural means. Therefore, for seven years the people cook on fires, heat their homes, etc., by burning war equipment, including, no doubt, the use of gasoline and oil available from the machines of war. Where the anti-Christ is called "the trampler," we learn that even clothing is among some of the military things burned:

"For every boot of the trampler is shaking, and a coat rolled in blood will even become burning fuel for the fire. For a Child is born to us; to us a Child is given, and the government is on his shoulders; his name is called, Wonderful,..."

You do see that the coats of the trampler are burned when the Israeli government is placed upon the shoulders of Jesus. That rulership will, of course, take place in the Millennial Jerusalem. But after seven years, we may conclude, shrubs and tree shoots will have grown sufficiently large to produce a new and ongoing supply of firewood (Isaiah 9:5).

DAY OF THE LORD QUOTES

As promised, here are a dozen Old-Testament quotes which highlight the Day of the LORD, otherwise known as Armageddon. Notice how the terms are reflective of the destruction of Gog in Ezekiel:

1) "Our God [Jesus] comes, and he is not silent; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very stormy around him" (Psalm 50:3).

2) "You shall be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and great earthquake and great noise, tempest and storm, and flames of devouring fire. And it will be like a dream, all the multitudes of the nations who will fight against Ariel; a vision of the night [a nightmarish]..." (Isaiah 29:5,6).

3) "The Lord has a way in the tempest and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet...The mountains quake because of him, and the hills melt...His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken down because of him" (Nahum 1).

4) "A plague goes before Him, and lightning went forth at his feet...he looked and shook the nations, and the ancient mountains were shattered; the eternal hills bowed down..." (Habakkuk 3).

5) "The Day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision [Armageddon]. The sun and moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall gather in their light, and the LORD [Jesus] will roar from Zion, and from Jerusalem he will give his voice, and the heavens and the earth shall quake" (Joel 3).

6) "I will shake the skies and the earth. And I will overthrow the throne of the kingdoms..."(Haggai 2:21).

7) "He shall rain snares on the wicked; fire and brimstone and a scorching wind is their share of the cup" (Psalm 11:6).

8) "The earth shook and trembled; and the foundations of the mountains moved and were shaken, because it angered him. A smoke went up out of his nostrils, and fire devoured out of his mouth; coals were kindled by it" (Psalm 18:7-8; Psalm 18 describes the coming of Christ at length).

9) "The LORD thundered in the sky; and the Highest uttered his voice--hailstones and coals of fire" (Psalm 18:13).

10) "The nations roared; kingdoms were shaken; he gave his voice, and the earth melted" (Psalm 46:3).

11) "The LORD will make the majesty of his voice heard; the lowering of his arm [Jesus] he will show, with raging anger, and a consuming flame; cloudburst and storm and hailstones" (Isaiah 30:30).

12) "The earth shook, and the skies dropped before God." (Psalm 68:2).

To prove that the language above depicts the post-trib' period, it is found in Revelation's seventh Bowl, which everyone agrees is an Armageddon-related plague:

"...a great voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying,'IT HAS BEEN DONE!' And there were lightnings and voices and thunders and a great earthquake occurred, such as never had occurred...and every island fled and mountains were not found. And a great hail came out of the sky..." (16:17-21).

Compare the terms in all the scriptures above with the Ezekiel text below in order to see the true timing of Gog's defeat:

"And it shall be in that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel, declares the Lord YHWH, my fury shall come up in my face. And in My jealousy the fire of My wrathwhich I spoke about. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel. And the fish of the sea and the birds of the air shall shake at My face and the beasts of the field and all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places [cliffs] shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I shall call for a sword against him on all my mountains...And I will judge him with a plague and with blood, and an overflowing shower, and hailstones. I will rain fire and brimstone on him, and on his bands, and on the many peoples who are with him...and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am YHWH." (Ezekiel 38:18-22).

WHEN IS THE DAY OF THE LORD?

Pre-tribbers have had to define the Day of the LORD as the entire seven-year Week just to avoid the ruin of their pre-trib' rapture theory. When viewed as the entire Week, one may accept Gog's destruction as being not at Armageddon necessarily. This is what allows Hal Lindsey and others to promote Gog's destruction at some point prior to the Week (Hal did at one time, anyway). The sheer truth is (as though the LORD worded it purely for the error of pre-tribulationism) that the prophet Joel places the Day of the LORD after the tribulation period:

"The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD" (3:31).

According to Jesus, the darkening of the sun and moon takes place AFTER THE TRIBULATION OF THOSE DAYS (Matt. 24:29), thereby making it a post-tribulation event. Therefore, the Day of the LORD must be more post-trib' than the darkening of sun and moon, or else Joel was not speaking for God.